The present invention relates to secondary packaging of the type often used for transporting a plurality of primary packages especially glass bottles in, for example, the distribution of brewery or other beverage products to the public. More specifically, this invention relates to a bottle handling device for use in association with such secondary packaging and particularly, its use in a system for returning such bottles when empty to a recycling facility or the like using the original secondary container.
Secondary packaging is often employed in retail packaging and distribution of foods especially beverages such as soft drinks or brewery products. Typically such packaging is made of corrugated board or fiberboard, and, in its most familiar form, as generally rectangular cartons. As will be noted, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the brewing industry and the secondary containers will be generally referred to as xe2x80x9ccartonsxe2x80x9d. Such cartons are usually provided with partitions or xe2x80x9cdividersxe2x80x9d which divide the carton""s interior into a plurality of pocket-like compartments or cells that are adapted to receive individual ones of the primary packages say bottles. This partitioning of the cartons interior serves a number of purposes not the least of which is to hold the bottles in mutually spaced relation. This is intended to help avoid the breakage that direct contact due to movement of the bottles might otherwise occur during the course of normal handling of the carton.
The dividers are usually made up of a series of interconnected wall members. Depending on any one or more of a myriad of design factors, such members may be formed as part of, or affixed to, the interior walls of the carton. More typically, however, (and especially in the case of dividers intended for use with ten or more bottles), such dividers are manufactured independently of the carton proper. They are only subsequently inserted into the carton most often immediately prior to the introduction of the bottles and are not secured to the container. The set-up and insertion steps are often mechanized operations effected by specialized sections of high speed packaging lines.
All dividers, to be practical and commercially suitable for such applications, must be inexpensive both in terms of their materials and their assembly/insertion costs, and yet must survive not only the initial packaging operation, but also be convenient and durable enough to facilitate refilling the carton by the consumer for the return of recyclable bottles. In that regard, with respect to the latter activity, the divider functions adequately provided care is taken by the consumer in inserting the empty bottles back into the case. Not surprisingly, in view of the above comments, attempts have been made to make the system more convenient whilst maintaining low costs, particularly in relation to the packaging of bottled brewery products.
Traditionally the brewing industry standard for dividers in the so-called xe2x80x9ctwenty-four packxe2x80x9d carton or cases, (named to reflect the number of bottles each such case is adapted to carry), comprises a series of eight strips or panels of relatively thin and easily deformed fiberboard. Three such panels are arranged in a spaced, mutually parallel orientation and these are traversed at right angles by the remaining five strips which are themselves arranged in a mutually parallel evenly spaced apart relation. Typically the junction between any two strips is formed by the inter-nesting of opposed, complimentary slots, arranged on respective ones of the two intersecting strips. The result is the creation of a rectangular array of twenty-four generally rectangular similar sized pockets the outer ones of which use part of a container wall to xe2x80x9ccompletexe2x80x9d the cell. Such dividers are usually produced and assembled by the carton manufacturer and shipped in a collapsed condition to the brewery packaging department. In the brewery facility the collapsed dividers are drawn from inventory on a demand basis shortly before cartons into which they are to be placed are scheduled for filling. Machinery at the packaging facility sets up both the required number of cartons and corresponding dividers and inserts an erected divider within each carton. Packing equipment then aligns the cartons and dividers in a predetermined orientation, and droploads the twenty-four productxe2x80x94filled bottles into their assigned pockets within the carton. Such dividers are expensive to manufacture and handle and any malfunction of the set-up equipment can be very disruptive and costly. Even if intended to be re-used, the damage rate during the use cycle is extremely high and many, upon their return, cannot be re-used. Yet, in spite of these shortcomings, they have for many years been, and up to now remain, the commercial solution of choice in many markets.
With respect to the re-use of the carton to return empty bottles, this can work adequately provided care is taken in inserting the empty bottles into the bottle pockets. The divider wall material is relatively easily crushed and if a bottle is not cleanly inserted into the pocket, the pocket wall material can readily be deformed or even flattened. This not only prevents the specific bottle from being successfully lodged correctly in its associated pocket, but the integrity of adjacent and other pockets are compromised and will then also probably not accept empty bottles as well. Therefore attempts to pack the bottles often results in the need to re-pack. This has proved to be not only an inconvenience to the individual home consumer but to a retail seller of the product, such as a bar or restaurant, where the need to load empty bottles into cartons and remove them from the beverage dispensing area in a rapid and convenient manner is very important since otherwise it creates disruptions in work flow and reduced efficiency.
In view of the above and to further reduce costs, attempts have been made to market the consumer products in primary containers, with bottles being a significant example, in secondary containers, usually cartons, with no partitions separating the bottles. It will be appreciated that when dividers are used, the carton interior length and width dimensions are designed to allow for the thickness of several strips of the divider material. Consequently, when the divider unit is omitted, there would be space between adjacent bottles allowing same to move and make direct contact with each other during normal handling providing potential for increased scuffing and breakage of bottles. To reduce and even eliminate that possibility, when the divider unit is omitted the interior length and width dimensions of the carton are reduced so that the bottles are maintained in direct and constant contact with adjacent bottles and/or carton walls which prevents the bottles moving. Obviously only the main cylindrical part of the bottle that is, from the shoulder to the bottom (herein termed xe2x80x9cmain bodyxe2x80x9d), can contact each other and, in fact, modern designs include features such as panel bulbs which restrict contact between adjacent bottles to specific bottle areas where adverse effects can be minimized. It should also be noted that when a partitionless carton is fitted with standard round bottles, the volume in the carton containing the main bodies of the bottles will be fully occupied apart from a series of voids or spaces formed between adjacent bottles and between some of the bottles and adjacent carton wall(s) because of the circular character of the bottles. The main body will, in general have the largest diameter of all sections of the bottle. Machine-filling partitionless cartons with full bottles at the bottling facility does not create these problems. However, the omission of the dividers does not eliminate problems when hand packing of the carton with empty bottles for their return has to be effected. In fact, in the absence of the divider unit there is scope for the empty bottles to topple over when being placed in the carton especially in busy on-premise locations and the problems referred to above are encountered.
Consequently there remains a need in the beverage and similar industries, especially as it applies to the re-use of secondary cartons to return empty bottles, for a lasting, cost-effective and a more user-friendly delivery system.
In accordance with a broad aspect of the present invention, there is provided a handling device for primary containers such as beverage bottles and specifically, a device to assist in manually filling partitionless secondary containers such as beer cartons with empty bottles. The invention provides a device comprising a frame, which defines a number of cells or pockets, the same number as the number of primary containers required to fill the carton. The cells are adapted to allow the main body of the primary container when the primary container in its usual upright orientation i.e. with its longitudinal axis generally at right angles to the plane of the frame, to enter and pass through. The device of the present invention is adapted to be inserted and be maintained in a secondary container so that the frame which defines the bottle cell array is maintained above the base of carton at a height which allows a full complement of bottles to be inserted into and sit on the base of the carton. It will be appreciated that the main bodies of those bottles will effectively be in contact leaving no space where they are in contact. Consequently, as taught by the present invention, the frame member which defines the cells is maintained above the volume to be occupied by the main bodies of the enclosed bottles. The frame may be maintained in that position in a number of ways. For example, it may be adapted by being dimensioned so that the extremities of the longitudinal and/or transverse frame members, which make up the frame frictionally engage the inner surfaces of the respective end and/or sidewalks of the secondary container. In one embodiment, appropriate chamfering of those extremities enables the frame to be wedged into the carton and thereby be frictionally maintained as desired. However, it is preferred that separate frame support means are provided which extend from the frame so as to contact the interior of the base of the carton or to engage the upper edge of a carton side and/or endwall. These enables the frame to be more easily and conveniently positioned at the desired height from the carton base and to be easily inserted and removed from the carton.
Whichever method of support for the frame is used, the length of the bottle guides is chosen to ensure the bottles during insertion and thereafter do not become angled or slip sideways in the cell thereby preventing subsequently inserted bottles from being cleanly inserted into vacant especially adjacent cells.
In an alternative embodiment, the support means comprise arms which extend from a part of the frame which, when the device is within a secondary container, preferably abuts a wall of said container, said arms extending from an opposite side of said frame to that which carries said bottle guide members to an upper edge of the end or the sidewall of said secondary container and is adapted to engage same and maintain said frame in position above the volume occupied by said bottle main bodies.
It may be noted that the main body of the primary container is dimensioned such that it cannot pass through the cell to sit on the container base unless the primary container is generally upright i.e. approximately at right angles to the plane of the frame. It is a feature of the device of the present invention that the cell and bottle guide combination can accept primary containers which are not initially fully in the required orientation and then corrects the orientation thereby ensuring that they pass through the cell and rest in the required upright position in the container whilst eliminating any tendency to fall over or otherwise hinder the insertion of further bottles into other cells.
For example, in the case of a partitionless six-pack, there might only be one longitudinal frame member and two transverse members connected together to form six equal sized cells i.e. there might only be one frame member in a series. However, it is preferred that there are three parallel longitudinal members, a long one extending the length of the carton and two short members, one on each side of the longer member and each connecting two adjacent extremities of the transverse members.
It is preferred that at least two but especially the four corner cells are bordered on only two sides by the sections of the longitudinal and transversal frame members. In this embodiment, the remaining two walls of the corner cells are provided by parts of the container end and sidewalks where they meet at a corner of the rectangular cell array. In response to the end and sidewalks being pushed outwardly in response to the insertion of the device of the invention into the container, the board material forming the corner can be deformed somewhat to form an obtuse angle i.e. the corner will become rounded to some extent effectively increasing the cell diameter. It will be appreciated that any internal volume lost because of the corner deformation in this manner is inconsequential since it was, in effect, xe2x80x9cdeadxe2x80x9d space since it was not as occupied by any bottle enclosed in the container.
The connections between the frame longitudinal and transverse members preferably take the form of a crossxe2x80x94xe2x80x9cXxe2x80x9dxe2x80x94whose limbs are not aligned with the longitudinal axis, which includes their associated sections. In addition, such sections are preferably secured to one of the limbs of the X shaped connection proximate to i.e., just shy of, the end thereof.
The connections are adapted to twist about a vertical axis in response to a movement of an associated section away from the connection. This part-rotation, in effect, lengthens the cell wall allowing it to bow and allow a bottle, which causes the said movement, to pass through the cell. In addition, each section preferably has a sinusoidal shape along its length for example in the form of a stylized letter xe2x80x9cSxe2x80x9d. This also provides flexibility and capability to deform thereby straightening its xe2x80x9cSxe2x80x9d shape and, in effect, becoming longer in response to pressure being applied against it by a bottle inserted into the cell bounded by that section.
The device of the present invention is intended to be re-used and hence should be relatively strong whilst providing a certain flexibility to the frame cell walls. The required characteristics can be met by a variety of materials and in particular, a number of plastic materials such as various polyolefins such as a polyethylene and especially polypropylenes.
It is preferred that the device be manufactured by molding such as injection molding and, especially, in one piece. However, there are advantages to manufacturing the device in several parts and assembling these various components to form the device as required. For example, the frame support members and/or the bottle guides can be produced independently of the frame. Each such member can be provided with threaded end portions and the connections in the frame may each be provided with an internal screw thread adapted to receive the threaded portion of an associated support or bottle guide member. In an alternative embodiment, each support and guide member can be secured to the frame via one of the well-known snap-fit arrangements for example, forming the end or the support and/or guide member as a bayonet fitting. An advantage of manufacturing the several components separately is that it avoids the use of relatively large molds which is expensive to produce and replace. Furthermore, transport and storage costs of the device as a number of components is also reduced.
In a preferred embodiment, the support means extend from the frame downwardly to sit on the interior surface of the base of an associated container. It is preferable that the support members are simply extensions of some of the bottle guides, the latter not required to be of that length to fulfill their bottle guide function as described herein.
In one embodiment, therefore the present invention provides a bottle handling device for inserting a predetermined number of similar bottles in an upright orientation into a rectangular container having a bottom, two side and two end walls and which container is adapted to be fully filled by said number of bottle when in that orientation, the device comprising a generally rectangular frame adapted to be removably inserted into and nestle in said container which frame is constructed of a series of spaced mutually generally parallel longitudinal wall members and a series of spaced mutually generally parallel transverse wall members both series of members having ends which extend substantially to a container end wall or a container sidewall respectively when the device is located in said container, each member of each series being joined at a series of connections with members of the other series to form a plurality of similar sized cells each of which is bound on at least two sides by sections of said longitudinal and said transverse members each cell being adapted to allow passage therethrough of a main body of a bottle, said frame being adapted, when located in a container, to be maintained parallel to a base of said container and in a volume in said container above a lower volume occupied by main bodies of bottles when located in said container, a bottle guide member extending at right angles from each connection which is shared by four cells and which is adapted to extend toward said container base, each said bottle guide member being dimensioned to fit within a void existing between four bottles when located in said cells.
In a further embodiment, the invention provides a bottle handling device for inserting twenty-four similar bottles in an upright orientation into a container having a rectangular shaped bottom, two side and two end walls and which container is adapted to be fully filled by said number of bottle when in that orientation, the device comprising a frame which is constructed of a series of spaced mutually generally parallel longitudinal wall members and a series of spaced mutually generally parallel transverse wall members both series of members having ends which extend substantially to a container end wall or a container sidewall respectively when the device is located in said container, each member of each series being joined at a series of connections with members of the other series to form a plurality of similar sized generally rectangular cells arranged in a rectangular array each cell of which is bound on at least two sides by sections of said longitudinal and said transverse members each cell being adapted to allow passage therethrough of a main body of a bottle, said frame being adapted to be removably insertable into and nestle in said container, and when located in a container, to be maintained, via support means extending out of a plane which includes said frame, parallel to a base of said container and in a volume in said container above a lower volume occupied by main bodies of bottles when bottles are located in said container, a bottle guide member extending at right angles from each connection which is shared by four cells and which guide member is adapted to extend toward said container base and is dimensioned to fit within a void existing between four adjacent bottles when same are located in said cells.